as there is no possibility of being original, I am once again
not original… my thoughts have been geared toward a society
that is ill and that the individual within that society is ill also…
so, in mucking about the web AND I came across William James and
his concept of “soul sickness”… and once again, I am just following someone’s
else road…
we are, the modern world, soul sick and we don’t even know it…
most of America claim to be Christian but look at what they support
and it is clear they are not Christians…Jesus message was about love
and the way to heaven which means following his message…
the rich will have an easier time passing through an eye of a needle
then reaching heaven… that kind of thing… and practicing
the laws of god… thou shall not…and look at what the soul sick
Christians support… a lying, thieving, adulterer president…
and the soul sick Christian barely said a peep about the use of torture
in obtaining information to “protect” America…
and that is being soul sick when you no longer engage in values
that your profess… to be Christian is to value such things
as love and charity and hope before actions as in torture
and lying and stealing and adultery…
that is the soul sick America at work…we claim to support
such principles as justice, equality, honesty, love and yet,
and yet, we actually give approval to such actions as violence and hate
and anger and bigotry…it is the Christians that is driving
such actions as violence and hate and bigotry…
this is not a anti-Cristian diatribe… not at all, this is using them
as an example of the soul sickness that has griped America…
where the words spoken and the actions taken are diametrically
opposed… that has lead to our current soul sickness…
I am giving a diagnoses of America…
and the Christian is an excellent choice to uncover this soul sickness…
we are the sick man who doesn’t even know his is sick…
look, look around you… what do you see?
you see human beings whose souls are crushed by society
and the demands of capitalism…
you see American trying to escape their soul sickness with opioids
and other such drugs…what do opioids do? they quiet the soul to
prevent thinking or feeling… that is the crisis of our day… not
the opioids epidemic but why do we have an opioids crisis…
it is because of what the drugs do that is important…
you can escape even for an hour from your soul sickness
booze and drugs fill the void that is inside of us…
a void cause by the modern world and its
dehumanization of us all…
the real epidemic of our day which is not
drugs or booze but escaping our soul sickness…
because of the nihilistic assault on the bodies and souls
of us all, we try to escape into drugs and booze but also
such fantasies as in video games and movies and music
and the relentless voyeurism into the lives of celebrities
all of which comes from the sickness of our souls…
even at the lowest level of their being, people are beginning
to understand the futility and despair of their lives…
for such soul crushing ism’s and ideologies as capitalism
and Catholicism, in fact, in any ism or ideology today crushes
the soul…Americanism is one of the worst soul crushing
phenomenon of our day… for Americanism offers us a phony
bill of goods… believe in the American dream and you shall be
rewarded… it is no different then the false promise of
religion…believe and ye shall be rewarded…
this soul sickness has been an undercurrent in modern life since the beginning
of the industrial revolution… it is evident in Goethe’s Faust and in the writings
of Marx and Kierkegaard and Nietzsche… it is so entwined in 20th century writing,
that of the modern era, that it isn’t even commented upon… the soul sickness of
the modern era is so prevalent that it is part of the words, sentences and language
of the 20th century writers…
how do we escape this soul sickness that permeates every part of society,
and us, as to become part of our very essence…
this is the modern question… how do we escape our modern age and its
ever present soul sickness?
we cannot escape by drugs or booze or fantasy actions like video games…
those passive measures only help fuel this fog of soul sickness that surrounds
all of us…
passivity is not an answer to our soul sickness…
only action can offer us deliverance from our current crisis…
it is not the time for withdrawal into ourselves, that help
lead us into the medieval ages… the only path out is action…
and what action is right? find a cause… global warming,
gun control, global population growth, income inequality,
pollution and fight… fight for that cause… that is the solution
to our current, modern, crisis…it doesn’t even matter what
cause you pick… pick a cause… and become that cause…
that is how you fight soul sickness… you engage in some cause
that you believe in…hold fast to that cause no matter what the
obstacles… for therein lies your salvation… the cause…
not god, not Americanism, not some ism or ideology…
but a cause…not some pie in the sky ism or ideology…
but some real, tangible, touchable cause that can change
lives in some positive fashion… and become that cause…
you want to be free? find a cause…and create change…
and the change you will create will be in you and that is the
real effect of becoming a cause… you become the change…
you find the real you in the landscape of creating change
for others…search for some answers in creating change
for others and the answer you find is you…
Kropotkin